1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to beverage dispensing and beverage dispensers and is particularly concerned with a method of and apparatus for dispensing multiple beverages from a single unit, into a container.
2. Prior Art
Beverage dispensers, and even multiple head beverage dispensers, are well known. The multiple heads allow simultaneous filling of more than one container and may provide for the dispensing of more than one type of beverage from the dispenser unit. Dispensing units, adapted to dispense carbonated beverages and the like, are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,643,866 3,011,681, and 3,058,620. The beverage dispensers shown in these patents may all be entirely satisfactory for their intended purposes of dispensing pressurized beverages into containers. However, it has recently been found desirable to use dispensing units in retail stores to dispense beverages directly into containers provided by customers and to permit the customers to fill the containers themselves. This has allowed the retailer to market the beverages at reduced rates since there is no costly packaging involved and since the customer provides the labor necessary to fill the container.
In dispensing beverages directly into customers' containers, it is necessary that the containers be filled quickly so that delays are not encountered by customers trying to fill their containers. Also, since the containers being filled are cared for and cleaned by the customer, the retailer has no control over the degree of cleanliness of the container. It is necessary, for sanitation purposes, that the container not be allowed to come in contact with dispensing nozzle of the dispensing unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 67,869, discloses the use of a funnel suspended from a dispensing nozzle to direct flow of a beverage into a container. The funnel shown in the patent is intended to be filled with ice, and the beverage, after passing through the ice, is dispensed from the bottom of the funnel into a container. U.S. Pat. No. 2,623,523, discloses an anti-infection spreading shield in the form of a disposable funnel that is positioned between the dispensing body and a persons nostrils so that the dispensing body will not be contaminated and can be safely used to dispense medication to more than one individual.
To the best of my knowledge, there has not heretofore been developed a beverage dispensing system that uses a disposable funnel to interconnect a dispensing nozzle of a unit and a container so that contamination of a nozzle does not occur during the filling of the container.
Also, to the best of my knowledge there has not heretofore been a dispensing unit for beverages and the like, that will insure rapid filling of a container positioned to receive the beverage while insuring that sanitary conditions are maintained.